The invention is in the field of voltage regulators, and relates more particularly to a temperature-compensated voltage regulator capable of producing a low-voltage output from a high-voltage input.
Voltage regulator circuits are presently used to provide regulated power supply voltage in a wide variety of circuits and in various integrated circuit applications. Several different voltage regulator circuits are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,023,543 and 4,792,749, and in European Patent Specification No. 0 183 185. However, the prior-art regulator circuits suffer from a number of drawbacks, such as the inability to operate with extremely high input voltages, undue circuit complexity and expense, the inability to provide self-biasing and self-starting, instability, high power consumption, and the use of components which are difficult or costly to integrate.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a voltage regulator which can operate with extremely high voltage inputs, which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and which provides high performance in a simple and compact circuit configuration.